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Campus Sexual Assault:
Suggested Policies and
Procedures
( F E B R U A RY 2 0 1 3 )
The statement that follows was approved in October 2012 by the Association’s Committee on Women in the
Academic Profession and its Subcommittee on Sexual Assault on Campus. It was adopted by the Association’s
Council in November 2012.
The American Association of University Professors
has long recognized that the freedom to teach and
to learn is inseparable from the maintenance of a
safe and hospitable learning environment. Several
Association documents identify important elements
of such an environment. The Joint Statement on
Rights and Freedoms of Students, formulated in 1967
(revised 1990–92), states that the “freedom to learn
depends upon appropriate opportunities and conditions in the classroom, on the campus, and in the
larger community.” The 1966 Statement on Professional Ethics (revised in 1987 and 2009) emphasizes
the responsibility of faculty members to “avoid
any exploitation . . . of students.” Sexual Harassment: Suggested Policy and Procedures for Handling
Complaints (1995) reiterates this ethical responsibility, asserting that acts of harassment clearly violate
expected standards of campus conduct. The same
statement emphasizes that the success of any policy
requires campus leadership to “provide appropriate
ethical standards and to provide suitable internal procedures to secure their observance.”1
National attention has recently turned to sexual
violence and the problems it poses for the classroom,
campus, and community.2 Actual or threatened sexual
assault raises issues for colleges and universities that
go beyond those of sexual harassment. Whereas the
prevention and management of sexual-harassment
incidents are generally considered to fall within the
purview of campus policy and procedures, incidents
of sexual violence and sexual assault may constitute
criminal offenses, require medical attention, and raise
special concerns about reporting, record keeping,
media attention, and police involvement. Because definitions of various acts and their status differ widely by
state, community, research study, and institution, colleges and universities are urged to determine the terms
and conditions applicable in their localities.3
.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/221153.pdf. The April 4, 2011, “Dear Colleague
Letter” from the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights
addresses the scope and significance of sexual violence in educational
settings, and the accompanying fact sheet provides widely accepted
statistics. “Dear Colleague Letter,” Office for Civil Rights, US Department of Education, http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters
/colleague-201104.html.
3. We use sexual violence as a blanket term for sexual harassment,
sexual abuse, sexual assault, rape, stalking, domestic violence, and
other forms of sexual misconduct. We use sexual assault to denote coercive physical contact of a sexual nature, including rape. Rape, a common legal term denoting forced sexual intercourse (with oral, vaginal, or
anal penetration), has in many states been replaced by statutes defining
1. AAUP, Policy Documents and Reports, 10th ed. (Washington, DC:
and prohibiting activities encompassed by the more inclusive term
AAUP, 2006), 273; 171; 244.
sexual assault; we retain the term rape when used in cited documents.
For more on definitions and terminology, see Heather M. Karjane, 2. Christopher P. Krebs et al., Campus Sexual Assault (CSA) Study
(Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, 2007), https://www.ncjrs
© 2013 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESS O R S Bonnie S. Fisher, and Francis T. Cullen, Campus Sexual Assault: How
Campus Sexual Assault: Suggested Policies and Procedures
Some colleges and universities choose to incorporate
sexual assault into existing policies governing professional ethics, sexual harassment, or campus violence.
Institutions that wish to have a separate statement on
the prevention and management of campus sexual
assault may find the suggestions presented in this report
useful in developing policy and procedures. Drawing on
research findings and other sources, we first outline the
scope of the problem, the consequences, and the management of sexual assault. We then summarize federal
law pertaining to sexual assault, including the provisions
of the Jeanne Clery Act and its reporting requirements
for institutions of higher education. We then outline
what a robust sexual-assault policy might look like, noting institutional and procedural elements that authorities consider promising as well as those that pose
special challenges for the development of sound policy
and procedures. We discuss the special role and responsibility of faculty members, a group often overlooked in
campus sexual-assault prevention and training programs.
We conclude by emphasizing the importance of coherent and consistent policy throughout the institution.
Studies of campus sexual assault indicate that many—
perhaps most—assaults and attempted assaults are
never reported or, if reported, not consistently counted
as official.8 The fact that sexual assaults on campuses
largely take place between acquaintances blurs understandings both of consent and of assault, and lessens
the likelihood of reporting.9 Unlike “stranger rape,”
acquaintance rape may not even be perceived by those
involved as “rape,” a perception that may discourage
or delay disclosure (which may occur days, weeks, even
years after the event).10
II. Consequences of Sexual Assault
The consequences of sexual assault are potentially
very serious. An immediate concern is physical injury,
which may be extensive enough to require medical
treatment or hospitalization.11 Pregnancy and sexually
transmitted diseases (STDs), including HIV, are additional concerns.12 Emotional damage may be serious
and equally requiring of treatment. Sexual assault may
Campus,” New York University Student Health Center, accessed Janu-
I. Scope of the Problem
Campus sexual assault is a significant problem. Women
in the traditional age range for college students—from
eighteen to twenty-one—are four times more likely to be
sexually assaulted than women in any other age group,
and college-bound women are at greater risk than their
non-college-bound peers.5 Between 20 and 25 percent
of college women and 4 percent of college men report
having been sexually assaulted during their college
years.6 The rate for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender,
and queer students is estimated to be slightly higher.7
4
ary 17, 2013, http://www.nyu.edu/shc/promotion/svstat.html. See also
Ann Fleck-Henderson et al., Beyond Title IX: Guidelines for Preventing
and Responding to Gender-Based Violence in Higher Education (San
Francisco: Futures without Violence and Avon Foundation for Women,
2012), 5, http://www.acha.org/topics/docs/Futures_Without_Violence
_Beyond_Title_IX.pdf: “Those on campus who may be marginalized,
underrepresented, or especially vulnerable warrant special attention.
These groups will differ from campus to campus, but may include
LGBTQ individuals, women of color, women with disabilities, immigrant
women, or international students.”
8. Based on statistical extrapolation from many sources, some
researchers estimate that only 5 percent of campus sexual assaults are
officially reported: “Sexual assault is widely considered to be the most
America’s Institutions of Higher Education Respond (Washington, DC:
underreported crime in America.” Karjane, Fisher, and Cullen, Sexual
US Department of Justice, 2002), 2–3, https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1
Assault on Campus, ii.
/nij/grants/196676.pdf.
victims of sexual assault know the person who assaulted them. Krebs
4. See “Sexual Assault on Campus Statistics,” American Association
9. It has been estimated that 90 percent of campus women who are
of University Women (AAUW), accessed January 17, 2013, http://www
et al., Campus Sexual Assault Study.
.aauw.org/act/laf/library/assault_stats.cfm, and Krebs et al., Campus
Sexual Assault Study.
Karjane, Fisher, and Cullen, Sexual Assault on Campus, 2.
5. See, for example, Heather M. Karjane, Bonnie S. Fisher, and Fran-
10. “Half of all student victims do not label the incident ‘rape.’”
11. Sexual-assault advocacy groups recommend that all victims of
cis T. Cullen, Sexual Assault on Campus: What Colleges and Universities
physical sexual assault, even those reluctant to file an official report,
Are Doing about It (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, 2005),
undergo a medical exam and forensic evidence collection; this makes
http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/205521.pdf.
it feasible to file an official report or charge in the future. See http://
safercampus.org, the website of the national activist organization Stu-
6. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Sexual Violence Facts
at a Glance 2012, accessed January 17, 2013, http://www.cdc.gov
dents Active for Ending Rape.
/ViolencePrevention/pdf/SV-DataSheet-a.pdf. 7. Lee van der Voo, “Sexual Violence on Campus: Not Just a Crime
incidents involve transmission of a sexually transmitted disease. Some
of Men against Women,” Investigate West, February 25, 2010, http://
states mandate testing of convicted attackers for HIV and other STDs.
invw.org/node/941; “National Statistics about Sexual Violence on
See http://www.aauw.org/act/laf/library/assault.cfm.
2
12. The AAUW states that 40 percent or more of sexual-assault
Campus Sexual Assault: Suggested Policies and Procedures
affect students’ academic achievement as well as their
capacity to contribute to the campus community. College students who have survived sexual assault rarely
perform at their prior academic levels, are sometimes
unable to carry a normal course load, and frequently
miss classes. These changes stem sometimes from
social withdrawal, sometimes from a desire to avoid
the perpetrator. Assaulted students regularly drop
courses altogether, leave school, or transfer. Along
with decline in academic performance and social withdrawal, long-term outcomes may include increased
risk of depression, substance abuse, self-harm, eating
disorders, post-traumatic stress, personality disorders,
and suicide.13
Beyond their destructive effects on individuals,
incidents of sexual assault may have negative consequences for colleges and universities. First, they harm
the institution’s educational mission by undermining
the safe and hospitable learning environment necessary for learning and teaching. Second, they cast
doubt on stated commitments by campus leaders to
end campus violence. Third, cases exposed in the
national media may bring scandal to the institution
and its leaders, create distrust toward the administration among parents and alumni, and erode fundraising
efforts as well as legislative and philanthropic support.
Fourth, institutions found in violation of basic preventive measures may be fined.14 Finally, even incidents
that stay local are likely to damage the institution’s
standing in the community.
III. Management of Campus Sexual Assault
As we suggest in this document, sound campus policy
and procedures should aim to eliminate sexual assault
and its devastating consequences. Closer coordination
with trained law-enforcement officials, for example,
increases the likelihood that incidents will be more
fully investigated and adjudicated. In terms of the
conviction and punishment of perpetrators, however,
the outcomes are not much better for cases handled
by the criminal justice system. A 2011 Chicago
Tribune investigation of six midwestern universities
tracked 171 alleged campus sex crimes reported by
students and investigated by police over the previous
five years; twelve of the accused perpetrators were
arrested, of whom four were convicted. In only one
of those four cases was the attacker another student,
though student-to-student assault is the most common
form of sexual assault on campuses.15 Thus the rate
of arrests and convictions in these cases is not only
low—7 percent and 2 percent, respectively—but also
well below the average reported nationally. As the
Tribune article concludes, “The trend leaves untold
numbers of college women feeling betrayed and
vulnerable, believing that their allegations are not
taken seriously.”
Such findings are disappointing. Despite progress
over recent decades in public and professional understanding of sexual assault and sexual violence, recent
research makes clear the persistence and influence of
several entrenched myths: it is the victim’s fault; most
allegations of sexual assault and rape are false and
typically motivated by revenge against particular men
or against men in general; the presence of drugs or
alcohol makes it difficult to investigate allegations or
even establish whether an incident actually took place;
and acquaintance rape is not rape.16 Below we note
additional factors that appear to influence the reporting, tracking, counting, investigating, classifying, and
adjudicating of incidents of sexual assault.
IV. Federal Laws on Sexual Assault and
Related Crimes
Title IX requires institutions of higher education to
report incidents of violence and to track patterns
of sexual misconduct and other behaviors that create
a hostile environment for women. In spring 2011,
the Office for Civil Rights offered additional guidance for interpreting Title IX in its “Dear Colleague Letter.” The letter states that institutions are
required to “take immediate action to eliminate the
harassment, prevent its recurrence, and address its
15. Todd Lighty, Stacy St. Clair, and Jodi S. Cohen, “Few Arrests,
Convictions in Campus Sex Assault Cases,” Chicago Tribune, June 16,
2011, http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-06-16/news/ct-met
-campus-sexual-assaults-0617-20110616. The convicted student had
pleaded guilty to sexual battery and criminal confinement.
16. Two forums on campus sexual assault held in Virginia in spring
2011 and 2012 brought together leaders in research, higher education,
policy, and law enforcement. Among the presenters was David Lisak,
a clinical psychologist and leading authority on interpersonal violence,
including sexual assault. Lisak documented the influence and pervasiveness of such myths and stereotypes in all aspects of campus sexual
13. Connie J. Kirkland, Academic Impact of Sexual Assault (Fairfax,
assault. Two of his papers, along with other useful presentations from
VA: George Mason University, 1994).
the 2012 forum, can be downloaded from the Virginia Department of
Criminal Justice’s website at http://www.dcjs.virginia.gov/vcss/training
14. Recent cases are highlighted on the AAUW’s website at http://www.aauw.org/act/laf/library/sexualassaultcases.cfm.
/SAForum/.
3
Campus Sexual Assault: Suggested Policies and Procedures
effects.”17 Title IX lays out the investigative process to be used in such instances. In 1990, Congress
enacted a law that requires all two- and four-year
colleges and universities to file annual reports with
the federal government on campus crime, and
campus security amendments passed in 1992, 1998,
and 2008 further require campuses to develop and
disseminate prevention policies, make specific assurances to victims, and report an expanded set of crime
categories, including hate crimes. Together, these
federal regulations on campus crime are now known
as the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security
Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, or the Clery
Act.18 Yet, as we have noted, sexual violence encompasses a broad array of activities, including sexual
harassment, sexual assault, and stalking. Definitions
and classifications differ according to state, jurisdiction, investigatory agency, and institution; so do the
campus, legal, and criminal status of specific acts
and their penalties. This patchwork of laws and
definitions confuses efforts to address campus sexual
assault; indeed, roughly two-thirds of campuses file
Clery Act reports incorrectly.19 The same differences
and inconsistencies muddy the activities of reporting,
record keeping, researching, and bringing attackers
to justice. A further complication is identified in a
2005 report on Clery to Congress: “the dual jurisdiction of campus administration and law enforcement.”20 As the report notes, campus sexual assault
is potentially subject to two parallel but not fully
commensurate systems of investigation and adjudication: the campus disciplinary process, which seeks
to determine whether the institution’s sexual misconduct policy was violated, and the criminal justice
system, which seeks to determine whether the alleged
attacker is guilty of a criminal act. Most reports of
17. See http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague
-201104.html.
sexual assault on campus are handled administratively. A perpetrator found in violation of campus
policy may be disciplined in a variety of ways,
including suspension or expulsion.21 Given that these
internal proceedings are likely to be confidential, the
victim will probably not be notified of their outcome;
if the campus does not consider the incident a crime,
it will not be counted in Clery statistics. At the same
time, campus authorities are often reluctant to refer
incidents to the criminal justice system and thereby
yield control of the proceedings, opening them to
public as well as media scrutiny.22
While the requirements of the Clery Act have
undoubtedly alerted many campus and public officials to the problem and extent of campus sex crimes,
continuing confusion remains on several points. In the
aftermath of the 2011 Penn State scandal, for example, media reports as well as statements to the press
by college and university leaders revealed uncertainty
about the meanings of and distinctions among such
terms as sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and rape. Given the state-by-state patchwork of
terms and statutes, this uncertainty is perhaps to be
expected. Research on Clery reporting, however, also
indicates confusion over the meaning of student, campus, crime, and other terms central to Clery reporting
mandates.23 Obviously, terminological confusion
confounds statistical estimates as well as meaningful
cross-campus comparisons. While a small number
of institutions have put in place rigorous procedures
for obtaining, collating, tracking, processing, and
reporting Clery statistics, a standardized model for the
overall process does not yet exist. Accordingly, as with
terminology, practices may be very different from one
campus to the next. This inconsistency is confirmed by
a 2011 study by the Center for Public Integrity: comparing sexual-assault data submitted in universities’
annual Clery security reports with data collated from
the records of service and advocacy agencies connected
18. The act was renamed in 1998 to honor Jeanne Clery, a student
sexually assaulted and murdered in her dormitory room on the Lehigh
University campus in 1986. At the same time, her parents founded required to pay restitution, lose privileges, issued a no-contact order, or
the nonprofit foundation Security on Campus, Inc.; see http://www
placed on probation.
.securityoncampus.org/summary-jeanne-clery-act for a summary of the
Jeanne Clery Act. Institutions that fail to comply with the Clery Act may
tributed to the scandal at Pennsylvania State University and to the poor
be fined or lose eligibility for federal student-loan programs.
handling of other cases. See, for example, Nina Bernstein, “On Cam-
19. See Karjane, Fisher, and Cullen, Sexual Assault on Campus,
pus, a Law Enforcement System to Itself,” New York Times, November
and Krebs et al., Campus Sexual Assault Study. Four-year institutions
12, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/12/us/on-college-campuses
and historically black colleges and universities are more likely to report
-athletes-often-get-off-easy.html.
correctly; four-year public institutions do better than their private coun-
terparts.
modified October 1, 2008, http://www.nij.gov/nij/topics/crime/rape
-sexual-violence/campus/welcome.htm.
4
20. Karjane, Fisher, and Cullen, Sexual Assault on Campus, 10.
21. Alternatively, accusers found in violation may be censured,
22. This “parallel judicial universe” is believed by some to have con-
23. “Sexual Assault on Campus,” US Department of Justice, last
Campus Sexual Assault: Suggested Policies and Procedures
to or near campuses, the center found “troubling discrepancies in Clery Act numbers.”24 Numerous cases
of student assaults reported by the advocacy agencies,
though sent to the universities, were routinely omitted
from the Clery summaries.
Accordingly, it seems clear that closer collaboration with local law enforcement, greater knowledge of
what constitutes “a crime,” and better coordination
between campus and community service providers
would aid many colleges and universities in more
effectively addressing the problems of campus sexual
assault. As of this writing, however, such coordination
is the exception rather than the rule.
penalties that pertain to sexual assault in the
local criminal justice system.27 More broadly,
because incidents of campus sexual assault
may be reported to noncampus authorities
and may in fact take place off campus, the
institution is advised to consult and coordinate procedures with campus and noncampus
police, health-care providers, and community
service providers experienced in dealing with
sexual assault. Establishing and maintaining an
ongoing network will help coordinate campus
policy with off-campus law enforcement and
facilitate the important activities of counseling,
treatment, referral, record keeping, investigation, adjudication, and Clery reporting.
3. Policies and procedures must be clear, readable, and accurate; information must be
widely disseminated and readily accessible to
all members of the campus community; and
materials must include descriptive (operational) definitions of sexual assault, rape, and
other forms of sexual violence, explaining why
these actions violate acceptable standards of
conduct and, in some cases, constitute criminal
offenses. Potential campus and criminal penalties should be made equally clear.
4. Guidelines for reporting an incident of sexual
assault should be clear and explicit and include
names, titles, and contact information. They
should state when and where to report an incident, file a complaint, or press a charge. The
policy should encourage victims to report the
incident to campus authorities and to offcampus police, and should generally indicate
what each procedure entails and what purpose
the reporting will serve. Procedural options
following the report of an incident should likewise be clear and explicit. The policy should
include an official statement prohibiting retaliation against individuals who report incidents
of assault and specify the disciplinary actions
that will follow threats and attempts
to retaliate.
5. The reporting of sexual assault is essential
for accurate record keeping and to prevent
repeat offenses. Given the widespread underreporting of sexual assault, reporting should be
V. Development of Robust Policy and
Procedures
Several points emerge from our comments thus far:
terms and definitions matter; policies and procedures
should be coherent across the institution and consistent with state and federal law; coordination across
relevant campus and noncampus units will encourage better understanding of the problem; policies
and procedures should be consistent with collective
bargaining agreements, if applicable; and the effective
management of campus sexual assault will be aided
by broader changes in campus culture. In addition to
these general principles, a number of policy and procedural measures are recommended by most experts on
campus sexual assault.25
1. All members of the campus community—
faculty members, administrators, staff members, and students—share responsibility for
addressing the problem of campus sexual
assault and should be represented in the
policy-development process. Once policies and
procedures are in place, the institution must
make them widely available.26
2. Early in the policy-development process,
the institution needs to determine the rules,
definitions, laws, reporting requirements, and
24. “Campus Sexual Assault Statistics Don’t Add Up,” Center for
Public Accountability, last modified June 4, 2012, http://www
.publicintegrity.org/2009/12/02/9045/campus-sexual-assault-statistics
-don-t-add.
25. Obviously, an institution’s size, financial situation, and resources
will affect its capacity to carry out these recommendations. Nonresidential institutions and those governed by collective bargaining agreements,
for example, may need to adapt these suggestions to their own circumstances.
the website of the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network at 26. Some institutions have policies and procedures on the books but
do not widely publicize them.
27. For specific information, consult the state-by-state listings on http://rainn.org/public-policy/laws-in-your-state.
5
Campus Sexual Assault: Suggested Policies and Procedures
facilitated as much as possible—for example,
by providing for direct reporting by name,
confidential reporting, and anonymous reporting. Some campuses provide for third-party
reporting; others have developed systems for
centrally collating reported incidents from all
sources without double-counting.28 Mental
health and religious counselors are explicitly
exempted from Clery reporting requirements,
but the legislation encourages institutions to
establish a confidential or anonymous reporting procedure to which counselors may refer
their clients.29
6. Ideally, a single official or office should be
charged with overseeing and coordinating
the many responsibilities associated with
allegations of sexual assault.30 This office or
individual should be one with appropriate
experience, established authority, and sufficient resources. Such duties would include
responding to incident reports, coordinating
communication and record keeping among
offices and agencies, disseminating information
to the campus through materials and training sessions, ensuring that the victim receives
whatever immediate care and follow-up are
needed, establishing procedures for classifying and counting incidents, and filing Clery
reports that are as comprehensive and accurate
as possible. The name and contact information
for the individual and office should be widely
publicized; preferably a live responder would
be available round the clock.
7. Campus policy and procedures should be
publicized through a multimedia approach
that includes press releases, brochures, posters, radio and video spots, and web-based
messages. Again, all information should
include the name and contact information of
experienced campus officers as well as contact
information for campus and appropriate offcampus law-enforcement officials. Contact
information should also be provided for relevant campus, community, and online resources
(for example, ride services, the local masstransit system, emergency phone locations,
rape hotlines, and Twitter alerts). Some campuses post stickers with emergency information
on the doors of all campus buildings.
8. Prevention programs, required on some campuses for all entering and transfer students,
aim to work “proactively to end sexual violence.”31 Often using trained peer educators,
such programs may focus on healthy relationships, the meaning of consent, and strategies
for bystander intervention. Workshops and
training sessions should play a continuing role
in campus education.
9. Physical and electronic prevention and security
measures include improved campus lighting;
trimming of vegetation; trained student and
security officer patrols; carded access to residence halls; presentations by campus police to
student, faculty, and staff groups; and widespread distribution and publication of campus
security information.32
10. While education and prevention efforts typically focus on women, the most likely victims
of sexual assault, campuses should also direct
education toward men, the most likely perpetrators. Education and training programs for
men have the potential to change the culture of
the campus with respect to sexual violence of
all forms.33 Among the most promising practices are prevention and intervention programs
designed for all-male campus groups (male
athletes, fraternity brothers, and male members
31. The quoted statement and examples of prevention programming
are from the Campus Acquaintance Rape Education (or CARE) program,
founded in the 1990s at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
28. Institutions that conscientiously count and report Clery sex
32. See Westat, Diane Ward, and Janice Lee Mann, The Handbook
for Campus Safety and Security Reporting (Washington, DC: US Depart-
crimes note that their diligence may backfire, making their campuses
ment of Education, 2011), http://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety
appear less safe than those that file more casual reports. See Karjane,
/handbook.pdf.
Fisher, and Cullen, Sexual Assault on Campus, 12–14.
ing their college years they had used some form of coercion to obtain
29. The issues posed by different campus reporting requirements
33. According to the AAUW, 43 percent of college men said that dur-
and the need for confidentiality are complex and may actually discour-
sex. Attention to men can clarify for them the meaning of consent
age faculty and staff cooperation.
and of the phrase “no means no”; it can also help identify behavioral
precursors to assault (such as sexual harassment and stalking). “Sexual
30. Oversight for these multiple responsibilities seems most often
to be assigned to campus security, women’s programs and services, or
Assault on Campus Statistics,” AAUW, http://www.aauw.org/act/laf
student services.
/library/assault_stats.cfm.
6
Campus Sexual Assault: Suggested Policies and Procedures
of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps). Such
programs explore what men can do, individually and collectively, to prevent these crimes.
For example, a University of California, Santa
Cruz, program identifies intervention strategies
available to bystanders (such as friends, roommates, or fraternity brothers) when a male peer
seems on the verge of committing a potentially
criminal sexual offense.
11. Recent educational projects aimed at “bystanders” may sound casual or unlikely to succeed.
In fact, such projects are aimed at the peers
and peer groups of potential perpetrators and
potential victims and thus may provide significant education to the campus community and
have an impact on the larger campus culture.34
12. Though students are the focus of the current
document, a campus assault policy should
eventually cover all campus constituencies.
VI. Faculty Responsibilities
While the foregoing suggestions are generally applicable to campuswide strategies for managing sexual
assault, the role of faculty members in protecting
student rights and freedoms is distinctive and merits
further discussion. As advisers, teachers, and mentors, faculty members may be among the most trusted
adults in a student’s life and often are the persons
in whom students will confide after an assault. A
faculty member may also be the first adult who detects
changes in a student’s behavior that stem from a
sexual assault and can encourage the student to talk
about it. Faculty members may thus find themselves
in the role of “first responders” to reports of sexual
assault, yet few consider themselves adequately
equipped for the role—in part because they are the
least likely campus constituency to receive information
about sexual assault and guidance about reporting and
responding to it.
The reporting question is important. The Clery
Act mandates that campus crime statistics be gathered
from “campus police or security, local law enforcement, and other school officials who have ‘significant
responsibility for student and campus activities’ such
as judicial affairs directors.” It is the view of this committee that faculty members, as a general rule, do not
fall into this category and are therefore not mandated
Clery reporters.35 As a consequence, faculty members
are thus usually not expected to be trained investigators, nor, except in specific circumstances as defined by
individual institutions, are they normally expected to
be mandated reporters of incidents about which they
are told or happen to learn.36 But they can provide
other important forms of support and assistance:
1. They can listen to the student’s disclosure and
then make a referral to an experienced campus
official or service provider; obviously, the more
information the faculty member has about the
quality and track record of available services,
the better the advice and referral will be.
2. They can state explicitly that they take it seriously and help the student clarify points of
doubt or confusion.
3. They can consider whether any immediate
action (such as medical attention) may be
wanted or needed.
4. They can describe campus policy, procedures,
and reporting options; urge the student to file a
report (while making clear that the decision to
do so is ultimately the student’s); and offer to
accompany the student in taking any actions.
5. They can help the student think through
immediate and longer-term options (the
immediate collection of medical evidence, for
example, makes future reporting possible)
35. The phrase “significant responsibility for student and campus
activities” will have different meanings at different institutions. Clearly
there may be circumstances in which faculty members do have significant supervisory responsibilities for students—for example, when they
lead field trips or trips abroad or sponsor debate or music competitions
or athletic events. Each campus must clarify oversight and reporting
responsibilities as activities require. Where faculty members have
student advising as an assigned responsibility in their job description,
mandated reporting might be required. Other conditions may prevail at
nonresidential campuses, community colleges, and institutions working
under collective bargaining agreements.
36. The faculty and staff web page of the Office of Women’s Affairs
at the University of Illinois at Chicago, which addresses sexual-assault
and sexual-harassment issues for the campus, states that “[a]ll faculty
and staff who supervise student activities are considered Jeanne Clery–mandated reporters. If you are given information about the occurrence of a crime on campus, you are required to make a report. In [the] future the Office of Women’s Affairs will offer an online training
program for all mandated reporters.” Here the key phrase is “supervise
34. Karjane, Fisher, and Cullen, Sexual Assault on Campus, 12. See
student activities,” but there is no real explanation of what these also J. Katz, “Reconstructing Masculinity in the Locker Room: The Men-
activities encompass. See “Faculty and Staff,” University of Illinois tors in Violence Prevention Project,” Harvard Educational Review 65, no.
at Chicago Office of Women’s Affairs, accessed January 18, 2013,
2 (1995): 163–74.
http://www.uic.edu/depts/owa/facstaff.html.
7
Campus Sexual Assault: Suggested Policies and Procedures
and offer assistance in navigating the campus
bureaucracy.
6. Faculty members who are knowledgeable
about and committed to principles of justice
and due process are well equipped to help
develop policy and see that its procedures protect the victim while ensuring due process for
the accused perpetrator. They can also advise
and support student activist groups that are
pressing the campus to respond more forcefully
to the problem of sexual assault.37
7. Qualified faculty members can promote
through their research a better understanding of the issues surrounding campus sexual
assault. David Lisak, a leading authority on
sexual assault, observes that the heated public
discourse in this controversial field “often
makes no reference to actual research.” “It is
remarkable,” he writes, “how little research
has been done in the United States,” noting
that the major government-funded studies of
rapes and their low rate of prosecution come
from the United Kingdom and Australia, where
the field is less characterized by confidentiality
and fragmentation.38
8. Faculty members should be aware that they
could be called to testify in a criminal proceeding about a conversation with a student
regarding sexual assault and may want to
consider professional liability insurance as a
safeguard.
VII. Final Considerations
In this document, we have presented suggestions
culled from research, media commentary, higher
education policy, local and national women’s advocacy groups, and law-enforcement models. Yet despite
intense concern and some progress, campus sexual
assault remains a field, as Lisak has put it, “fraught
with controversy” and “enmeshed in dispute and in
the politics of gender and sexuality.”39 We have mentioned many of the issues that fuel controversy and
37. The national activist organization Students Active for Ending
Rape (http://safercampus.org) identifies additional ways in which faculty
members can support efforts to establish policy and procedures for
handling campus sexual assault.
dispute and that in many ways impede the just and
fair resolution of incidents of campus sexual assault.
As we have noted, the widely accepted estimate is
that fewer than 5 percent of completed and attempted
sexual assaults on college students are brought to the
attention of campus authorities or law enforcement.
Even fewer of these incidents are rigorously adjudicated. While the difficulties of reporting, counting,
sorting, and record keeping could presumably be
reduced by sound policy and procedures, it is less
clear how investigation, adjudication, and resolution
might best be improved. The stark fact is that alleged
attackers almost uniformly go unpunished, and many
victims of sexual assault believe that no reporting or
disciplinary process will produce justice.40 Moreover,
in the words of the Center for Public Integrity, campus
proceedings are typically “shrouded in secrecy,” and
neither the public nor the victim is likely to be told
how the case was resolved. And, as we have noted,
the outcomes are little improved when handled by the
criminal justice system.
In an effort to improve the likelihood of bringing
perpetrators to justice, the Office for Civil Rights has
proposed lowering the standard of proof in disciplinary proceedings involving sexual assault. The office
argues in its “Dear Colleague Letter” that replacing the prevailing standard of “clear and convincing
evidence” with a “preponderance-of-the-evidence”
standard would help level the playing field for victims
of sexual violence. The proposal has in general been
favorably received by women’s advocacy groups and
sexual-assault support agencies but has been opposed
by many organizations representing both progressive
and conservative values. The AAUP advocates the
continued use of “clear and convincing evidence” in
both student and faculty discipline cases as a necessary
safeguard of due process and shared governance. The
committee believes that greater attention to policy and
procedures, incorporating practices we have suggested
here, is the more promising direction.
Approaches to the critical problem of campus
sexual assault will continue to evolve, and the growing body of research and experience may eventually
make possible the identification of a definitive set of
best practices. In the meantime, careful attention to
policy demonstrates the institution’s resolve to reduce
rates of campus sexual assault on a continuing and
38. David Lisak et al., “False Allegations of Sexual Assault: An Analy-
sis of Ten Years of Reported Cases,” Violence against Women 16 (12):
1319; 1331.
_assault/articles/entry/1838/.
8
39. Ibid., 1318.
40. See http://www.publicintegrity.org/investigations/campus
Campus Sexual Assault: Suggested Policies and Procedures
sustained basis. Attention to the procedures that
implement policy is no less important: well-designed
procedures strengthen a campus culture of respect and
safety, ensure an appropriate institutional response to
incidents of assault, and add to our knowledge of incidents and outcomes. In turn, that knowledge enables
an institution to measure the effectiveness of its policy
and procedures over time. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
ANN E. GREEN (English)
Saint Joseph’s University, chair
DONNA POTTS (English)
Kansas State University
PAULA A. TREICHLER (Institute of Communications
Research)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
ANITA LEVY, staff
The Subcommittee
9